Administration of the operation of NC machine tools is conventionally performed by machine-tool using users individually each using an operational administration system set up on the user's end. Such operational administration systems are set up by interconnecting the numerical controllers for a plurality of NC machine tools with an administration device via a LAN, the Internet or other telecommunication lines, wherein the administration device gathers and stores data pertaining to the operational status of each NC machine tool, and thus the operational status of each NC machine tool is centrally administrated based on the operational status data gathered and stored.
However, in order to carry out the operational administration with precision, vast amounts of data must be gathered accurately and quickly, and the gathered data must be reliably stored over the long term. Accordingly, this requires a high-performance administration device equipped with high-speed processors, high-capacity storage devices, and outage-free power supplies to handle power-outage occurrences.
In addition, in cases in which an administration device and numerical controllers are interconnected via the Internet, or in cases in which appropriate terminal devices and an administration device can be interconnected via the Internet so that operational status data can be obtained even outside of the plant where the operational administration system is set up, security devices for handling unauthorized access and computer viruses are required.
For this reason, it can be expensive for a user to set up such an operational administration system, and for the user the burden of doing can be heavy.
On the other hand, if the operational status of machine tools at the users' could be comprehended on the manufacturer's end in a timely manner, then an idea of maintenance schedules for, and the duty status of, the applicable NC machine tools could be had from the comprehended operational status, making it possible to perform such maintenance services as urging the preventative replacement of parts, or readying in advance parts required for replacement, thus contributing to improved customer service for the users.
In addition, since the operational status of each machine tool is difficult to grasp readily on the basis of raw data within the gathered and stored operational-status data, an informational report in which the raw data is compiled in a given format (table, chart, etc.) is ordinarily created, making it so that the operational status of each machine tool may be understood from the created informational report; yet making it so that on the manufacturer's end such informational reports are automatically generated and distributed to the users concerned would be efficient in saving each user the trouble of preparing the informational reports.